Shot some head and shoulder short duration interviews with my d7000 and Sennheiser lapel mike, worked great, now I've been asked to shoot some customer interviews at a trade fair, is there a way I can use two lapel mikes (interviewer/interviewee) into the one d7000 socket to cut down on some of the background noise?
Or should I be looking at doing this different ( want to keep as light and simple as poss)

I'm starting to experiment with video, recently learned final cut pro and am incorporating video and audio in my social documentary work. In regards to audio, I refuse to use anything w/out XLR inputs; I will not sacrifice audio quality. Like others here, I've been using the Tascam DR-100. Fantastic device, with one major major caveat: although it has XLR inputs and provides phantom power, phantom will drain your battery within 10-15 minutes, which renders the entire set up useless if, like me, you have no desire to use the mics on the tascam (which aren't broadcast quality by any means).
I use a Rode NTG-3 shotgun mic, very durable and exceptional quality, albeit pricey. It's a true condensor shotgun mic, meaning it has no available power and needs phantom power to run. To get around this, I'm using a cheap portable phantom power unit (powered via a 9V battery, lasts for hours), which is bulkier than my Tascam. An XLR cable runs from my shotgun mic, into the phantom unit, and another xlr cable connects the phantom unit with the Tascam. The mic is attached to the hotshoe of my camera. The whole set up is bulky and heavy, it's not ideal, but it's what we have to work with given the lack of an XLR cable input on camera (in addition to this audio/video set up, I have a second bag that's my still photos set up, multiple primes and a flash...it's horribly heavy).
With this set up, you're getting the best possible audio and video, guerrilla style, in true documentary form, a one man audio/video/photography team. It's dizzying really in regards to all the stuff we're doing now with this new technology.

From the large number of reviews I read comparing the Rode to the Sennheiser, I believe it is very good, most reviews said it was better than the MKE400. So why did I buy the Sennheiser I hear you ask......size, the Rode is much bigger, and for me that was a deal breaker, if it's not for you I'd go for the Rode.

Those are the two options I'm considering for hot shoe shotgun mic to make home videos...

The MKE400 is a mono directional mic, the new Nikon is a stereo ambient. For that reason you can't realy make a direct comparison, you would use them in different situations. I have used the MKE for a year now and other than forgetting to turn it on once, it suits my candid style of photography better than I think the Nikon would. (Because the MKE is directional I have recorded very clear conversations at the long end of my 70-200 with it). I think the idea of the Nikon being powered by the hot shoe is a good one, yes I'm sure it must drain the camera battery slightly, but it must be ever so small, as the MKE uses 1 AAA battery and I haven't had to replace it yet. (I suppose it uses more when you remember to turn it on:-). Looking forward to reading a hands on review of the Nikon, so I can decide wether to get one of those as well?

Will the internal microphone on D7000 be muted automatically when I plug in a external microphone. And, if so or not, am I able to use the cameras own sensitivity settings (high / low) on the external microphone ?

The best way to a basic interview is with a lavalier mic, which is a small mic that goes on the interviewee's collar. Its very small, very light weight. My method was to attach the mic to a panasonic digital voice recorder, goes for 70$ at staples and provides pretty reasonable quality. Borrowed the mic from the university's student run production studio, didn't notice the model.

This means the D7000 can be free to move around as i require.

If you watch anyone on TV, or any public speaker, they will most often have one of these on their shirt.
For anyone learning about to use a microphone, i would STRONGLY recommend this article, the guy did an extensive review of the best lav's in different situations. as well as lots of general advice on the practical side on sound recording.

Since I will be getting my D7k this thursday( Samys Camera had it in stock), i started to think about the microphones as well. I will be shooting a short documentary movie. 10 minutes max for one of my media classes and i am planning on using the dslr to capture it.

I don' t like to half arse things so i like the idea of having a seperate audio track to sync up later.

So with that being said i was thinking of a wireless set up. Where i could place the microphone in close vincinity of the person i am interviewing but it would need to pick up both of our voices.

I don't need a microphone to pick up background noises. I just need a good quality microphone for interviews, if it's wireless that better.

Any recommendations?

I don' t want to spend god knows how much money on this but i don't want some crappy product thats going to suck or break soon.

Think in terms of best bang for the money

Hi Poster,

Wireless microphones can start in the $500 range and be considered very marginal. What sort of budget did you have in mind?

Since I will be getting my D7k this thursday( Samys Camera had it in stock), i started to think about the microphones as well. I will be shooting a short documentary movie. 10 minutes max for one of my media classes and i am planning on using the dslr to capture it.

I don' t like to half arse things so i like the idea of having a seperate audio track to sync up later.

So with that being said i was thinking of a wireless set up. Where i could place the microphone in close vincinity of the person i am interviewing but it would need to pick up both of our voices.

I don't need a microphone to pick up background noises. I just need a good quality microphone for interviews, if it's wireless that better.

Any recommendations?

I don' t want to spend god knows how much money on this but i don't want some crappy product thats going to suck or break soon.

Just so people are aware of the limitations of the "camera-mounted" solutions....

I have the Sennheiser and even off-camera, attached by its short cord, it picks up lens autofocus noise. Probably wouldn't be noticeable in a club with music, or maybe even at a kids bday party, but it's there in the quiet spots. Best case might be something fairly static, like the ceremony at a wedding. Don't ask autofocus to do too much.

As others have mentioned above, if you're serious about your movies, you'll want a dedicated sound recorder and sync up later. For casual use, this is OK. The fact that AF hunts so much to begin with is a bigger issue than the sound picked up.

@OnTheBandwagon I like my TascamDR-100 for several reasons. One is that it has on board stereo microphones and I could just record a band (as what you describe) and shoot with 2 or 3 cameras and synchronize in post using the NAT from the cameras (leave all the cameras running from start up - you'll have all the content on your time line ready to edit once synch'ed).

The Tascam also has balanced XLR inputs with phantom power and is portable.

There are other brands out there, too, but I would consider inputs, portability, phantom power to microphones, monitoring of levels, etc., as things that are important considerations.

@OnTheBandwagon: If you're doing a promo shoot, one thing you might be able to do is to arrange to record direct from the sound board. You'd get cleaner audio that way, and can just sync to the video later.

As for what krevlingoodspeed's talking about... that's a bit tougher. I can't see a shotgun mic working as well under those circumstances, since the sound's going to be altered significantly depending on where the camera/mic are pointing relative to the speakers/amps. An omnidirectional mic might prevent the audio "hot spots," but would probably pick up a bunch of stuff (chat, general crowd noise) that you might not want on the audio track.

Basically it'd be cool if I took my camera to a venue or a party and there was music, that I could clearly pick up the music.

I found this slightly older thread as I am ready to get an external mic.

A few thoughts (based on recording with other cameras) is that for traditional video taking, the attached hot shoe camera is a good choice. Convenient, keeps everything matched up with the subject. Filming your child blowing out candles for their 4th birthday, well yea.. ya want the audio pick-up aimed at the same spot as the camera.

But you mentioned music, and depending on what you are trying to do.. this could fall flat.

When recording live music, such as small bands in clubs... I like to move around the room getting different angles, focusing in on individual players. This is not hollywood stuff.. just one long take of a song so a band can put on Youtube for promo. the problem is, as the mic moves around with the camera, the sound will vary as you move closer and further from speakers. The recording levels can never be adjusted properly and parts will probably get blown out. This situation needs either a corded mic that can be centrally located (stationary), or a seperate recording device that can be married to the video when processing on the computer.

2 prong attack for me...
I have extra mics lieing around and will try jack adapters...
But for the music recording I'm thinking a seperate device will work best.

That photo with the H4n is a little bit misleading as it looks kind of like a shotgun mic (narrow), when it's actually about 3-4 inches wide. The angle of that shot makes it seem really narrow! :)

The H4n works great but is a bit on the bulky side - I did see them shooting with the Sennheiser MKE400 in a promo video for the D7000 (maybe it was the Chase Jarvis one, I'm not sure). Nevertheless, this is also a pretty good option, and it's a great performer for it's size. Here's a good demo of it...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ol1_DUrX5Co

I have both - The H4n is pretty versatile, but I'd say the MKE400 has a bit longer range. Both are between the 200-300 range I think.

I have a zoom H4n, which records 4 tracks: built-in stereo mics and 2 other inputs (each are phono/XLR with 48V phantom power). It's got a 1/4"-20 (standard tripod) mount on the bottom of it, and I bought a $10 coldshoe to 1/4"-20 adapter from adorama so it sits quite nicely right above the axis of the lens. I wasn't expecting the mics to be as good as they are, but they might not be directional enough for what you mentioned. I use an 8GB SD card, which has room for about 12 hours of recording, and sync my D90 video afterwards. I've set it up at the main table at wedding lunches to record the speeches and done video with a 70-200 on a d90 across the room while I walk around getting stills with another camera, and that worked out well. I'm excited to see how well it works plugged in to the d7000 stereo mic input since that will save me most of the syncing later.

heartyfisher said:
I know next to nothing about audio gear but I saw a remote sony one that seemed to function quite nicely. You plug one part into the camera and the other part with the mike you put whereever you want. the 2 parts communicate via bluetooth. Distance was upto 100meters it seems(I asked the guy using it) and he was using in in a largish hall when I was talking to him. about 30-40 meters away... he had a guy with the mike walking around trying to stay inconspicuous but close to where he was aiming the camera.

I've used this device and its pretty cool. its designed to go on a lapel when someone is speaking.

But it works a bit differently, sony has a "smart" hot shoe, meaning it has electrical contacts. So the mic records directly to the tape, very convenient.

Most wireless setups i've seen for video are bulkier, anyone know any ones that would fit well on a hotshoe or camera strap, like the GPS adapter?

I know next to nothing about audio gear but I saw a remote sony one that seemed to function quite nicely. You plug one part into the camera and the other part with the mike you put whereever you want. the 2 parts communicate via bluetooth. Distance was upto 100meters it seems(I asked the guy using it) and he was using in in a largish hall when I was talking to him. about 30-40 meters away... he had a guy with the mike walking around trying to stay inconspicuous but close to where he was aiming the camera.